Poisoned letter and gun setback for Obama

At a time of heightened security in the United States, the FBI is investigating a letter laced with a highly toxic substance that was addressed to the US President. The bureau says there's no indication of a connection with the attack in Boston. A similar, potentially deadly, letter was sent to a US senator. Also the senate voted against a gun control amendment.

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TONY EASTLEY: At a time of heightened security in the United States, the FBI is investigating a letter laced with a highly toxic substance that was addressed to the US president. The bureau says there's no indication of a connection with the attack in Boston. A similar, potentially deadly letter was also sent to a US senator.

Reporter Brendan Trembath is in Washington .

Brendan, good morning. How was the letter detected, Brendan?

BRENDAN TREMBATH: Good morning Tony. The letter was detected in an offsite mail processing centre. The FBI says it contained grains of a substance which initially tested positive to the poison ricin. This letter was addressed to the US president Barack Obama. And it is very disturbing indeed, reminiscent of after 2001, after the terrorist attacks when anthrax was sent to several Democratic senators and also to various companies.

TONY EASTLEY: Brendan, what the White House saying about the interception of this letter?

BRENDAN TREMBATH: The president's official spokesman Jay Carney says that the president has been briefed on this and also a second letter that was sent to US senator, a senator from Mississippi. In both cases the substance was ricin and in both cases it was at an offsite mail processing facility.

This is a direct result of those anthrax scares after the terrorist attacks in 2001 but mail destined for the White House, the House of Representatives and the Senate is processed somewhere else.

TONY EASTLEY: Just bring us up to speed about ricin; it's an extremely toxic substance.

BRENDAN TREMBATH: It certainly is and there's no known antidote. It was actually used in a bizarre assassination in the 1970s in which a Bulgarian journalist was jabbed with a poison-tipped umbrella. That umbrella was designed to deliver a ricin pellet under the skin.

So it's a dangerous substance and it's actually derived from something very benign. It's derived from making castor oil as a by-product and the by-product of this mash is ricin.

TONY EASTLEY: The president has also been dealt a blow with his gun control legislation. Can you explain that?

BRENDAN TREMBATH: Yes, it hasn't been a good day for president Obama. This was a proposal put forward by two senators from different sides of politics who both are gun owners and they both comes from states with the tradition of gun ownership.

They proposed expanding the background check system to include the guns that are bought at gun shows and also those over the internet. This was a loophole that you could still buy guns this way without a background check. But their proposal has been defeated in the Senate.

The vice-president Joe Biden who also supported this proposal has just spoken. He says that efforts in the name of gun control are far from over.

TONY EASTLEY: That's Brendan Trembath, our reporter in Washington.

Well as Brendan mentioned, a vote in the Senate has rejected president Obama's plans for expanded background checks on people buying firearms.

It fell well short, 54-46, as a handful of Democrats, people from within president Obama's own party, opposed the amendment.

A short time ago president Obama who appeared at the White House with victims of gun violence expressed his disappointment.

BARACK OBAMA: I've heard some say that blocking this step would be a victory. My question is, a victory for who, a victory for what?

All that happened today was the preservation of the loophole that lets dangerous criminals buy guns without a background check. That didn't make our kids safer.

Victory for not doing something that 90 per cent of Americans, 80 per cent of Republicans, the vast majority of your constituents wanted to get done? It begs the question, who are we here to represent?

I've heard folks say that having the families of victims lobby for this legislation was somehow misplaced. A prop, somebody called them; emotional blackmail some outlets said. Are they serious?

Do we really think that thousands of families whose lives have been shattered by gun violence don't have a right to weigh in on this issue? Do we think their emotions, their loss is not relevant to this debate?

So all in all this was a pretty shameful day for Washington.

TONY EASTLEY: The US president Barack Obama speaking there after his gun measures were defeated in the Senate.